Famous Quotes

Quotes by Henri Matisse

• A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.
• An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
• An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.
• Creativity takes courage.
• Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.
• Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.
• Exactitude is not truth.
• He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices he is free and nothing holds him back.
• I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.
• In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.
• It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.
• There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
• Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.
• What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.